Code: Dominate
by lil-ole-me
Summary: Part one of my 'My Version' series. Three new students finding out about Lyoko, the virtual dissapearance of Yumi and Odd, Sixth Sectors, XANA planning to launch his biggest attack yet: World Domination. Will Ulrich, Jeremy, and Aelita be able to cope?
1. Prolouge

**_Introduction_**

* * *

"Transfer, Scan, Virtualization."

The usual release of air blasted from below, signaling that Jeremy had activated the virtualization process. Within a moment, Ulrich was filled with the strange sensation of having his molecules ripping apart from eachother, followed by traveling at light speed through the warp tunnel. This was all ended, by the reassembling of his matter, but this time in the Lyoko universe. It was an uncomfortable process that no matter how many times he experienced, was still something he never fully got used to.

The scene of a closed scanning maching was replaced by that of the sandy realm of the Desert Sector. After being fully matereialized, Ulrich dropped to the ground gracefully, with Aelita landing to his right a second later. "Okay guys, I see two Bloks ahead. Odd, you distract the Bloks, and I'll take them from behind. Yumi, you and Aelita can--"

Ulrich looked around the platform he and Aelita were standing on for his two other companions. Nobody. He glanced up at the ever-blue sky, deducing that they must still be materializing. To his relief, there the two were, though they were virtualizing pretty slowly. By the time Yumi and Odd's lower legs were visible, the materialization had slowed itself to tortoise-speed.

"Jeremy," Ulrich called out. "What's going on? There's something wrong with Yumi and Odd."

An echoey voice from nowhere in particular replied. "Yeah I see Ulrich. Seems the program's running a little slow today. It was bound to happen eventually, since it's common with any other computer."

"If you say so." After all, Jeremy was the computer whiz.

The slow materialization process went on for about five more seconds, before Ulrich noticed that Yumi's figure began to fizz at the edges. Odd began to flicker uncontrolably, and it wasn't long before the two were nothing but colorful static in the air.

"Jeremy! Yumi and Odd just turned into static, or something! There has to be something wrong."

The minute that followed seemed like an eternity for the troubled Ulrich, with the monotonous click of keys, the static gradually becoming more and more obsolete. Even though he was aching to ask Jeremy what he was finding out about the event, he didn't dare disturb. Aelita, silent for the whole time now spoke up.

"Jeremy, will they be okay? Please tell me it's just a slight glitch."

A sigh was heard from the other end, and Jeremy replied. "I'm afraid that I can't find out what exactly is going on. This doesn't show up to be one of your everyday computer lags. Whatever's going on is unordinary."

As soon as the explanation was finished, Ulrich looked back up to see his friends' progress, only to find that they weren't hovering in the air anymore. In fact, they weren't anywhere within his line of vision. "Jeremy!"

"You're right Ulrich! There _is _something wrong here!" A few more furious keyboard taps echoed through the air. "Yumi and Odd don't even seem to be in this sector anymore."

Ulrich turned to Aelita, hoping she'd know something about whatever was going on. The desperation in his eyes were amost painful enough to make her cry, though Aelita refused to make the situation seem worse than it already was.

"It's okay Ulrich. Everything will be fine, I'm sure of it." Aelita knew that her last statement may have very well been a lie. Though she wasn't one to be pessimistic.

"Ulrich. Aelita. Before I perform any larger searches, I'm going to need to devirtualize you. I have no idea how long this will take, and I can't risk leaving you in there longer than I have to."

Ulrich nodded weakly. It wasn't like he had much choice anyway.

Within moments, he and Aelita were back on Earth, in the factory's scanner room.

"Ulrich." Aelita said softly, once the yellowish mist had cleared out. "I just want you to--"

A pause. "Yes, Aelita? What is it?"

The distressed teenagr sighed, and continued slowly and cautiously. "Just--be prepared for anything that Jeremy might tell you. Whatever happened, I know we can fix it."

"You really think--" Ulrich's voice began to crack, and he tried again more calmly. "You really think that it's going to be that bad?"

Aelita looked down at her boots, so as not to face Ulrich. "It could very well be like that. I've been having strange dreams this past week. odd and Yumi were in them and--"

She didn't continue, but they both knew what she was trying to say. With a shuddering sigh, Aelita broke the moment of silence. "We're going to go into the computer room together. Side-by-side. Whatever Jeremy tells us, we're going to face together as friends."

Ulrich felt her warm hand close around his comfortingly, and they stepped forward where their blonde friend was glaring into the flashing monitor. He was mumbling idley to himself, as his fingers practically flew over the keys. He didn't notice Ulrich and Aelita until he was tapped on the shoulder. He found it a little odd that Ulrich was holding Aelita's hand, like a child might hold his mother's, but didn't say anything about it.

"Guys, I'm going to break you the news as simply as possible." Jeremy began, not at all moving his gaze from the computer screen. "Odd and Yumi aren't in the Desert Sector, and I have a feeling that they're not in any of the other original four. I was thinking that maybe XANA may've messed up the virtualization process and materialized them into Sector Five. But when I ran a tracking search, I came up with absolutely nothing. Even in Sector Five, I get some sort of signal, no matter how weak."

Ulrich piped up. "Well, couldn't we try and communicate with them? You're always able to talk to us when we're in Lyoko, so maybe Yumi and Odd could tell us where they are."

"Or, we could devirtualize them from wherever they are. It wouldn't matter as long as they got back here on Earth." Aelita offered.

"Or we could even go to Sector Five right now and--"

"Guys!" Jeremy raised his voice to be heard over the suggestions. "First, I can check communications, thanks for the idea Ulrich. Secondly, is devirtualization would have worked when I started the process a few seconds ago. Thirdly, I'm not letting _anybody_ physically go into Lyoko until I figure out how and why XANA did what he did. Who knows? Maybe next time, we could only come back with one of us, or none at all!"

Ulrich was beginning to feel a little hopeless, and he sensed that Aelita was too. He sighed. "Well, let's check communications."

Aelita was struggling to contain her sobs as the computer read: No Signal.

Ulrich pounded the palm of his hand. "How? This is impossible! The only way there could not be a signal, is if they weren't in Lyoko anymore, or if they fell into the virtual void, and then--"

_Died._ Ulrich thought, not able to bear the fact that his friends may never see the face of the Earth again. Or anything else for that matter.

"Ulrich, where are you going?" Aelita asked the boy as he was rushing into the elevator.

"It doesn't matter." he replied just before the heavy metal doors slid closed.

"Leave him Aelita." Jeremy said, reading his friend's intentions. "I know you want to help, but he really needs to be alone. We'll check on how he's doing later."

Aelita nodded dumbly, and soon hot tears were running down her cheeks. Jeremy moved in front of her, and put an arm around her heaving shoulders.

"Oh, Jeremy. Why does it have to be like this?" Aelita asked, pressing her head against his chest.

Jeremy didn't have an answer, but simply kept his arms around her in a comforting embrace.

* * *

_So, what do you think? Too cliche? I promise the next chapters will be better, this was just a basic outline of how the whole thing started. R&R. Please don't flame unless my fic's really that bad. _


	2. The Sewer

_My brothers own Glen and Nick. Steal them, and be ripped to shreds. Sorry if there's any inaccuracy describing the factory. It's not like they've ever given us a full visual tour or anything, so just bear with me here._

_**The Sewer**_

* * *

Aelita's watch blipped twice, tolling eight AM. Instead of rushing to first period with Jeremy and Ulrich, she was hunched over the keyboard of the super computer. She was so close to her goal, that she could almost congrajulate herself now, but since her typing was limited to the 'hunt-and-peck' technique, the going was a bit on the slow side.

A message flashed on the suspended monitor: Save Changes To Settings?

Aelita found the 'Y' on the top of the letter rows, and pressed 'Enter'. The window she was previously working with automatically closed itself, and was instantly replaced by the computer's desktop.

"Finished with that." she murmured to herself, wiping the perspiration from her brow. "Now let's see what you've got here Mr. France Hopper."

Aelita took a moment to flex her cramped fingers before moving her attention to the faded composition book resting delicately on her lap.

"Here we go."

---

Kadic was turning out to be one boring academy. In any normal school, seventh graders were probably mixing formulas, or dissecting frogs. And what was seventh grader Glen Rizzo doing? He was spending the third day of the school year staring at the different kinds of bugs and plants in Kadic's forest ecosystem, being pointed out by his overly cheerful Science teacher, that's what. And not to mention yawning himself to death in the process.

"Hey," Glen whispered, nudging his green-haired friend in the ribs. "I'll bet they use Ms. DeCourcy's lessons as a torture method for prisoners."

The girl glanced up from the notes she was taking, and cocked an eyebrow. "You know Glen, I bet those prisoners never flunk biology tests."

"Come on Fae, live a little. Admit that there are a zillion things you'd rather be doing right now." he replied.

Fae ignored his last comment and turned back to her notes.

"You must be the best student I know, and you still work your head off like there's no tomorrow. I swear Fae, you can be as education-obsessed as my mother." Glen complained.

"It's not so much education, as it is conduct. I don't want to start the school year getting dirty looks from the teachers." Fae snapped back.

From the front of the group, Ms. DeCourcy exclaimed excitedly, "Oh, everyone! Here we have a perfect example of a spider weaving it's web. Spider web is considered to be one of the strongest materials on Earth. When combined with other threads, it can even outmatch steel!"

"That's it." Glen whispered. "I've got better things to do then watch what comes out of a spider's butt. I don't suppose you're going to come with me. I could use the company."

"Do I even have to answer that?"

"Suit yourself." Glen shrugged, before stealthily slipping away from the distracted class. He didn't worry about getting in trouble, Fae would cover for whatever went on.

As Glen scurried and ducked through a long row of bushes, the tip of his sneaker caught onto something, sending the boy crashing. After whispering an inaudible stream of curses, he glanced backward, over his shoulder.

"Well who's bright idea was it to stick a stupid manhole in the middle of the way?" Glen asking no one in particular as he got to his feet.

Curling his fingers around the edge, Glen pulled up on the circular slab of metal. Nothing underneath but flattened grass blades. So it was just a cover. That meant that there was an open manhole somewhere. Glen let the cover fall back onto the ground, instantly easing the pressure in his arms and back. The thing must've weighed a ton, meaning that it was doubtful that it was carried very far.

It didn't take Glen long to find what he was looking for. Not five inches to the left of the cover was a perfectly rounded hole, hidden from casual view by the mass of undergrowth.

Perhaps it was his life's lack of adventure, or overwhelming sense of curiosity, or pure boredom, but Glen decided that an open sewer entrance in the middle of school grounds was a bit suspicious, and that he was going to go down there and explore it. Besides, it would provide a safe, unmonitored haven for him until Science with Ms. DeCourcy was over. Not exactly your ideal teen hangout, but it beat staring idle spiders.

Pushing aside the while array of branches and vines, Glen began to lower himself down a set of bars, subbing as a ladder. He didn't hurry, for fear that he'd end up knee-deep in a pile of sewage. When Glen had gotten himself safely onto solid cement, he had a little look around. Unlike the sewers shown in monster films, this one was lit up fairly well, contained no traces of dog-sized rats, nor seemed the least bit mysterious or scary. It was sort of peaceful, if you will.

_I guess I'm not the first person to discover this place_, Glen thought to himself, noticing the three skateboards and one scooter leaning against the wall.

AN: Not two scooters, because remember, Aelita's already in the computer room.

---

A slight vibration from Ulrich's front pocket told him that he was getting a call. The phone's screen flashed wildly: Call From...AELITA. Making his movements as inconspicuous as possible, he slid the phone to his ear.

"Aelita!" he whispered furiously. "Where the heck are you? Jeremy was worried out of his mind about what might have--"

"I'm at the factory." she cut him off. "I need you two to get here as quickly as possible!" his friend seemed breathless with excitement.

It had been a long time since XANA had launched an attack. A strong sense of deja vu struck him, as Ulrich remembered how Jeremy used to call all of them to get to Lyoko. Strong, clear memories of Yumi and Odd flooded his mind, and for a millionth time since their disappearance, he was overcome with a sensation of sorrow, anger, and hurt all lumped into one confusing emotion.

"Ulrich?"

The boy snapped back to reality and replied. "Okay, we'll be there in a minute."

After terminating the call, he turned to Jeremy, sitting next to him. "That's why she isn't here in History. She was at the factory this morning. Anyway, she wants us to come. I think it's important."

"Just like before." Jeremy smiled at Ulrich, though the grin seemed to hold more memories than joy.

As if on cue, Ulrich clutched his stomach and swayed gently in his seat. Within seconds, the two were out of class, supposedly on their way to the infirmary.

---

Somehow, following the sewer, climbing a ladder at the end, and going across a bridge brought him to what looked like some kind of abandoned storage warehouse. Metal machinery and bits of debris were strewn across the wide floor below him, as he stood on a metal platform erecting from the walls, going around the whole warehouse room. The only two clear ways to get down, was to use vine like ropes hanging just off the edge of where he was standing, and a metal ladder going down from one of the platforms on the other wall. Since Glen wasn't about to pull a Tarzan, he took the longer, but safer route down.

Just as he was hopping off the bottom rung of the ladder onto the ground, the unmistakable sound of sneakers against concrete echoed through the spacious warehouse, along with distorted voices. Glen's first instinct was to hide. With cat-like grace and agility he managed to conceal himself behind the bulk of a clanky metal boiler.

What the heck am I doing anyway? he asked himself. These voices sound like teenagers', and they don't have any more right to be here than I do. But his common sense argued otherwise.

"Jeronimo!" one voice cried, Glen assuming that the people had used the ropes to get to the ground floor. "Bombs away!" said another. After that, some of the words of their conversation were actually understandable. He picked out a couple of phrases and bits, like 'think she's doing', 'odd', and 'scan'.

Taking a cautious peek from his hiding place, Glen spotted two boys--one his size and blonde, the other brown-haired and taller--jogging toward a rectangular metal bow with a set of ropes, bars, and pulleys attached to the top. An elevator. Some more murmuring and then he heard 'Xana's gonna pay for--(murmur murmur )'. The blonde boy pressed a faded red button to the right of the elevator. Two aging metal doors pulled aside, allowing the two adolescents in, and closed again when a button from the inside was pressed. The elevator pulled down into a shaft, creaking and groaning on the way, but never giving way.

_Well who was I to know that Kadic would turn out to be such a weird place?_ Glen asked himself silently._ I think I may actually have fun this year_.

* * *

_Well, that's the first official chapter of the story. My second chapter ever on fanfiction, so go easy on me. I did get one review (yay anonymous! I lub you, whoever u are), but because I'm a big fan of not wasting time, I'm not doing any more chapters until I get a total of five reviews. Constructive criticism and suggestions for future chapters are great! Ego-boosts are good too (wink,wink). Flamers will be sent to my ignore list._


	3. Discoveries

_Okay, I didn't get five reviews, but I did get another one. Go romeo66, you rule! Anyway, just a heads up on why the chapter is named what it is. Aelita makes a discovery of a new scan, and Glen makes his 'discovery' of the Lyoko gang's 'secret illegal plot'. Cody is the creation of my other brother. The same steal-and-die concept applies as before with Glen. Now the plot starts to thicken._

_WARNING : slight swearing in this chapter...nothing too terrible._

_**Discoveries**_

* * *

"Man, how long do you think it's been since we've had to use the infirmary excuse Jeremy?" Ulrich asked, genuinely grinning for the first time in weeks. "Jeez, it's been so long, I didn't think I'd be able to pull it off." 

Jeremy chuckled slightly, but he seemed to have his thoughts on a separate subject.

"What is it?" Ulrich inquired. "I'd know that distant look anywhere. You've got something on your mind, haven't you."

The elevator screeched to a sudden halt, and the ancient metal doors slid slowly to the side. Jeremy and Ulrich stood inside the elevator silently, one pondering, and the other waiting for the answer to his question.

"It's just that...when you talked about not leaving class to get to Lyoko for a while. It made me wonder why XANA hadn't launched any recent attacks on neither the real or virtual world." Jeremy finally said. "Now that we're two members short, XANA could activate a bunch of towers, we wouldn't be able to handle the pressure, and eventually, he'd win. This should be a cinch for him, but he's not doing anything. It makes me wonder, you know?"

The conversation was interrupted by an excited Aelita, calling the two boys' names. "Jeremy! Ulrich! You can talk later."

The pink-haired preteen was on the other side of the room, sitting in Jeremy's computer seat. With a wave of her hand, she beckoned the two over to where she was. Her eyes were sharp and focused on the computer screen, that now was spitting out data at them, faster than anybody could read. An open notebook lay across her lap, it's notes scribbled and organized so messily, it was as incomprehensible as the computer.

As the monitor was just finishing processing info, Ulrich could have sworn he heard a muffled thud come from the elevator shaft. Probably nothing, Ulrich shook his head, trying to reassure himself. The factory was old, it was probably just the building settling or something. Did metal settle though? He wasn't sure, and made a note to ask once Aelita was finished telling them whatever she needed to say.

"Okay, I won't go into details as to how I got it, but this is Franz Hopper's very first logbook of Lyoko." Aelita exclaimed excitedly. "Well, I wasn't sure if any of the information in here would be useful...in fact, most of it isn't. But I came across this entry."

Aelita turned the composition notebook a few pages back, and gently handed it over to Jeremy. After briefly looking through the notes (having some trouble reading the side notes) a smile broke across his usually solemn face. "Aelita, you're a genius! I don't know where you could have gotten this! This is just amazing!"

Ulrich cleared his throat loudly, and piped up. "Well, you two may spend all day with computers, but frankly, I have no idea what any of this means."

"Basically, it's a simple search that scans all of Lyoko for life forms. It was supposed to be used to find missing units. But now that we have the information, we can finally find out if Yumi and Odd are still alive. Oh, by the way, the program only detects real human beings. XANA's creeps won't affect the search at all." Jeremy explained matter-of-factly. He turned to face Aelita. "The only thing is, that Franz Hopper had a complicated way of setting this thing up. It could take days to reprogram Lyoko to be able to perform such a low-tech task."

"Done." Aelita cut in. "I've been spending the last two weeks making sense of the notes, and then the last day programming. It wasn't easy, I'm not as good a typist as you."

Jeremy blushed slightly, and protested. "Aelita, you should have really let me have done it. Typing continuously for a period of days can cause carpal tunnel. As a real, physical being, you should be more concerned about your well-being."

Aelita smiled at his parent-like concern. "Well, than it wouldn't be a surprise. Everything's done, you only have to type one code in the command center to work it. I believe it was 'pursuit'."

A sudden blip surprised the three friends, and Ulrich checked his digital watch. "Oh man. Second period is in two minutes. If I'm late for Health again, Yolanda will have my head. Not to mention my free time, when she gives me detention."

Jeremy nodded in agreement, and announced. "I'd better get to class too. I say we commence Code Pursuit at lunch. I'll give you time to have something to eat, and I'll call both of you when I'm ready."

Without a second to spare, the three almost-late students made a dash for the elevator, in a race to beat the school bell.

---

_CRASH!_ Two trays, both previously holding lunches, clattered noisily to the floor, sending a mess of cheesecake, lettuce, and skittering plastic sporks across the cafeteria food. A few nearby heads turned curiously to find out what the noise had come from, but soon became disinterested, seeing as it was only a small collision between two students. The two girls were stunned at the suddenness of the crash, but soon were hunched over the disarray.

Fae was first to apologize. "Sorry! I didn't see you there. I was only looking for someplace to sit, and I guess I should've paid more attention to where I was going. Sorry."

She looked up from the floor apologetically, to find a girl who was...well, very pink. Pink hair, pink attire, pink boots. She was already busy scrubbing out the sticky dessert with a paper napkin, but her face showed no agitation whatsoever. "No problem. Could you get some more paper towels?"

Fae obediently fetched them, and began to get to work herself. "Sorry about your lunch. I'm pretty sure that they give seconds here, but I could be wrong."

Pink girl smiled. "Yes, I knew that. I don't remember seeing you around the school before. Are you new?"

Fae nodded, as she gathered bits of soiled lettuce, tomatoes, and cucumbers to throw away. The girl continued."I was the new student before you. Aelita Stones, by the way."

"Aelita Stones?" Fae asked quizzically.

"My name."

Fae mentally kicked herself for being so stupid, and replied. "I'm Fae Whiting. There are two other new students too. Cody, my brother, and Glen, my first friend here in France."

Aelita stood up, and dusted herself off. "So you don't live in France?"

Fae got to her feet as well. "My family comes here to vacation in the summer, but usually, we live in England. This is my first time at Kadic, even though my family's summer house is in the same city."

"Well then, I welcome you to Kadic Academy. Come on, let's go sit down." and with that, the two got second lunches, and found an empty table to sit at.

---

"Cody!" Glen waved his arms around wildly, trying to grab his friend's attention. "Cody, over here!"

From the bleachers, a sweating, raven-haired boy glanced upward, spotting the waving maniac, and nodded his head in greeting. "How's it going Rizzo?" he called back.

Glen jogged over to Cody, appearing as his usual good-natured self, but seeming a little distracted by something. "Uhm, Cody. You wouldn't by chance happen to remember any history lessons or newspaper articles you've ever read about anybody named France Hopper, or Zana, do you?"

Cody raised an eyebrow inquiringly, and took a moment to think. His mind was half on answering Glen's question, and half wondering 'Since when is Glen concerned about people he's never heard of?'

"Can't say I have. Are you sure you have the name right?"

Glen wasn't sure. The elevator shaft was echoey, and the voices a bit distorted. Maybe it was possible he didn't hear it right. Glen doubted he heard it incorrectly though. He was listening too carefully to have misheard any of what was said in there. "No, I'm sure that's the name. Anyway, if you can't remember that, do you know what a lyoko is? Is it like, a medicine, or a karate or something?"

"Glen, what are you getting at?"

Glen was annoyed now. "Just tell me what you know about lyokos."

"That's just it." Cody argued. "I have no idea what the hell you're talking about, and I don't have a clue what you want to know for."

Glen sighed. "I can't tell you yet. We have to get Fae here first. It's lunch now, right?"

"Yeah, she'll probably be at the cafeteria." Cody said. "This had better be good Glen, you're starting to freak me out."

Glen simply turned and jogged back to the school building, racking his brain to remember which way the cafeteria was. Cody, confused and wanting answers, ensued behind.

---

"Well, well, well. What do we have here?" A smirking girl asked from behind Fae. To her left and right, were two boys who looked as if they'd been snatched off the very bottom of the popularity totem pole. In her mind, Fae secretly dubbed them Dim-wit and Zit-face.

"Well what do you know, an unpleasant visit from Elizabeth Delmas. What rotten luck." Aelita shot off bitterly, her soft eyes turning into a sharp glare.

"Hey, her name is Sissi." Zit-face defended the girl.

"So, I suppose it's too late for you to join my cool crowd, now that you've associated yourself with the school losers." Sissi/Elizabeth pointed out matter-of-factly, flipping her hair over her left shoulder. "Such a shame. I guess I'll have to find somebody else."

Fae stood up, to face Sissi head to head. The girl was only an inch or so taller, but it was obvious that her ego stood well over the clouds. "What makes you think I'd want to be part of your group? Because I don't."

"Please." Sissi scoffed. "There isn't a single student in the school who doesn't want to hang out with me."

"I guess I'm an exception then." Fae challenged.

Aelita piped up. "Me too. And not to mention Ulrich and Jeremy."

"Oh, my Ulrich darling loves me dearly. The only thing that keeps him from being my boyfriend, is that dumb Yumi. Even after she's been kidnapped! I'm sure he'll come to me in his own good time." Sissi explained.

"What did you say?" Fae was bewildered at this. A kidnapping?

"I said, I'm sure he'll come to me in his own good time."

This girl was unbelievable. Unbelievably obnoxious anyway. "No, I meant the kidnapping."

"Oh, that? Two of the students here were kidnapped. Odd Della Robia and Yumi Whats-her-name." Sissi said. "And I say good riddance! Those two have been nuisances since the day I met them. You know, I'd love to stay and chat, but I wouldn't want to ruin my image."

And with that, Sissi, Zit-face, and Dim-wit were off, probably to torment some other unsuspecting new student. Fae sat back down, and began to poke at a little red tomatoe with her spork. Aelita was silent for a moment, debating over whether she wanted the rest of her cheesecake or not.

"Did you know those two?" Fae asked, not having to explain who 'those two' were.

"Yes." Aelita replied solemnly. "They were two of my best friends in fact. Yumi, she seemed hostile and tough toward the other students, but inside, she was a great friend. Ulrich really likes her too, but you'll have to ask him if you want to know more about that. Odd was quite the opposite. Funny, fun-loving, always hungry, and sometimes even witty."

"Sort of like Glen...except the witty part." Fae remarked, as Aelita chuckled softly. "Please go on."

Aelita appeared thoughtful for a moment before continuing. "It was the third to last day of the school year when they went missing. We've had several detectives throughout the summer vacation, but now that classes have resumes, there's only one around. The principal didn't want there to be too many distractions for the students from their work. So far, no evidence has turned up."

"Incredible." said Fae, marvelling at the curiousness of it all. "You mean to say that _nobody_ has ever found a clue as to where Yumi and--Odd was it?--could be?"

"Well, Jeremy thinks maybe--" Aelita seemed to catch herself slipping something and turned her head aside. "Ehm...sorry, it's nothing. Never mind."

Fae was sure she wasn't getting a full story. She was tempted to ask more, but as far as her limits went, it wasn't really any of her business. "If you like, we don't have to continue. I imagine it's complicated subject to talk to about to a total stranger."

Aelita nodded sadly, and added. "It's okay. I suppose I needed to really let all these emotions out anyway. Beside's Yumi, you're the only female aquaintence I've really had. And in my opinion, it's hard to talk about these kinds of things with boys."

As Fae had opened her mouth to agree, a quick paced chirping sound cut through the steady drone of cafeteria normality. Aelita reached into her pocket, and pulled out a (wouldn't you know it?) pink cell phone.

"Hello? Jeremy?" she answered, contained excitement in her voice. "Are we all set?"

A pause, in which Fae took the time to notice that Aelita was probably speaking to the same person who had an idea about something relating to the kidnapping.

"Is Ulrich already there? He wasn't here for lunch."

Another pause.

"Great! I'll meet the two of you there. Oh, I can't wait!" Aelita exclaimed, ending the call.

"Sorry to leave you like this, but I promised to meet my friend during lunch." Aelita apologized. "Maybe we can meet again later."

And without a moment's delay, Fae's pink-haired friend hurried out of the cafeteria joyously. At nearly the exact same second, Glen and Cody burst through the entrance, nearly displaying a second collision course for the day. Grabbing a pint-sized carton of chocolate milk, and shoving one at a surprised Cody, Glen's eyes panned the cafeteria in search of...

"Fae!" he yelled out upon spotting her.

Nearly everyone in the room turned their heads to stare at the bellowing new student, and a few even snickered teasingly. Fae felt her face blush lightly with embarrassment.

Glen had a rather strange habit of calling his greetings from across the room, rather than go up to whoever he's talking to like a normal person would. Then again, Glen didn't quite seem to qualify as a normal person. Fae could have strangle the boy right about now, but decided to spare herself further humiliation and do it later when nobody else was around.

"Fae before you say anything, I need to ask you if you've ever heard of somebody named Franz Hopper or Zana. Or maybe you know what a lyoko is?" Glen blurted out as soon as he seated himself at her table.

"Uh, no, no, and no. Where'd you hear it? Maybe I could tell you if I heard it in a sentence." Fae said confusedly.

"If I told you where I heard it, you wouldn't believe me." Glen began, doubt edging his voice.

"Probably not," Cody agreed. "Now let me go, so I can get a proper lunch for myself."

"Okay then, Mr. Too Good for Glen. I'll tell you anyway. And you're going to sit through and listen to the whole thing." Glen declared.

Nick groaned in protest, but didn't move from his spot.. Glen filled the two in on the details of his mini adventure, watching their expressions grow more and more skeptical.

"You were right." Fae said, once he had finished.

"About what?" Glen asked.

She cast a joking glance to Nick. "When you said we wouldn't believe you." she replied.

"Guys, this is serious. I swear, that sewer leads to an old abandoned place, and there were kids inside." Glen defended.

"You said you only heard them talking. You sure they were kids?" Cody inquired, raising an eyebrow.

"Yeah. Like I said, I saw two of them before they went down, and they were talking to another girl. I think they called her Aelina, or Aelita or something." Glen explained. "Like I said, I jumped down in mid-conversation, so I don't know who the other two are."

_Aelita! That's impossible!_ Fae's mind screamed in protest. She hardly seemed the type to be hanging around any place remotely related to a an abandoned building. Glen must have earwax buildup or something. But then, there was a mysterious heir to the shy pink-haired eighth grader...

"Well, you said one of them was complaining to the other about getting carpal tunnel syndrome for typing out a program for a long period of time...sounds to me like they were just computer geeks working on some kind of complicated program. Hardly worth DISTURBING MY LUNCH FOR!"

"But why go talk about it in an isolated basement? Why not a computer lab, or the cafeteria, or even one of their dorms? I tell you guys, there's something fishy going on around here. A million bucks it's something illegal." Glen said his mind set. When Glen's mind was set, there wasn't even a one in a million chance of 'unsetting' it.

"So what are you saying exactly?" Cody challenged. "There are kids around here somewhere, that whisk away to a probably nonexistent old factory, in order to hold computer club meetings? And while they're at it, they commit unspeakable technology-related crimes?"

"And, you--with all the graceful stealth of an elephant wearing roller skates--managed to spy on them without getting caught, and discover their evil plot? I know, why don't you just go ahead and apply for a medal of bravery while you're at it?" Fae continued sarcastically, sending Cody and herself into a fit of laughter.

"Ha ha." Glen rolled his eyes. "You want proof? Meet me in front of Kadic at four or so. I'll be sure to bring forks, so you can eat your words." he stated smugly.

"Okay, I'm in." Fae agreed. "Just to prove you wrong though."

"Whatever. Just let me get some food now." Cody gasped, mocking starvation, as he staggered over to the lunch counter.

* * *

_Okay, so there you go. This isn't your typical 'Lyoko crew befriends somebody then tells them their big secret' kind of fic. Glen, Fae, and Cody are going to find out about Lyoko the more realistic way...just plain investigating! Please please please please review. I promise the plot will get more exciting as it goes along. Thanks!_

_-liloleme _


	4. A New Hope

_More reviews! I'm touched..._

_Custom Magnum_

_Yes, I do agree that the characters are a little flat and bland at the moment. I do plan to give Glen, Fae, and Cody more depth in later chapters._

_Other Anonymous Reviewer _

_Thanks for the very helpful review and the compliment! Now that you mention it, the first chapters are a bit tasteless. Well, this following chapter's going to have a lot of emotion, so I'll be sure to take your advice._

_A more angsty chapter here, telling about what happened during the launching of Code: Pursuit. Lots of emotions in this one, for people who like that kind of thing._

_WARNING : slight swearing and self-harm (Ulrich's cuts, in case I didn't explain it well enough)._

_**A New Hope**_

* * *

Aelita pressed the rusting red button of the elevator, waiting impatiently for the dinosaur-aged doors to slide themselves closed. Her stomach felt like it was doing a gymnastics performance right then and there in the factory. For a moment, Aelita feared she was ill, and would have to miss the commencing of Code: Pursuit, but remembered that the last time she felt like this, Jeremy said it was called 'butterflies-in-your-stomach'. Obviously, a common human occurence, since students at Kadic used the phrase a lot.

The elevator began to make it's gradual way down to the computer room, Aelita cursing the infernal slowness of the machine all the way. Despite her good-natured cranking, she couldn't help but feel a tiny sliver of hope, nestled between all that anticipation. Suppose Yumi and Odd weren't alive? Jeremy may have been able to handle the news of the dissapearance, but Ulrich would be torn in two if he found out that something terrible had happened to his two best friends. Perhaps it would be best not to know, to live in ignorance, and still have their hopes. No, computer's were cold, cold creatures. They didn't feel sympathy, and give out little white lies to make others feel better. Yumi and Odd were dead or alive, and she, Ulrich, and Jeremy would find out soon enough.

The ear-splitting sound of metal against metal pierced Aelita's eardrums as the elevator came to a sudden halt, and with the same tortise-speed as before, the doors reopened, revealing two teenaged boys staring with hard concentration at the suspended monitor. Aelita stepped into the room, and greeted cheerfully "Hey Jeremy. Ulrich."

Their glares didn't leave the screen. Only Jeremy made an effort to reply, giving a small nod in response to her bright salutation. Aelita cocked her head in confusion, and said "Jeremy, what happened?"

The boy began to type ferociously with one hand, keeping his other to prop his chin up. "When I was waiting for you and Ulrich to show up, and I ran a quick systems check, just to be sure nothing would go wrong during Code: Pursuit. A few bugs turned up in XANAs database, mostly just commercials files from the internet. Then there was a problem in the 'Return to the Past' program. I clicked on the file to try and fix whatever was wrong, but apparently, I'm not allowed access."

Aelita jogged to where the two boys were standing, to get a better look at the computer screen. "That's very strange. You think it's XANA?"

"Who else?" Jeremy growled, almost savagely. "But why 'Return to the Past'? We haven't used that since the beginning of June..."

"It must mean XANAs plotting something. And obviously, his plans don't include us going back in time..." the previously silent Ulrich piped up.

"My thoughts exactly!" Jeremy confirmed. "We will launch Code: Pursuit, but it seems XANA has more in store for us, besides capturing Yumi and Odd. If only we knew, I could prevent him from causing more damage."

Aelita and Ulrich nodded their heads, not neccesarily because they were trying to say anything, but because it seemed the best thing to do with Jeremy there practically erupting in front of them. None of the two dared speak, so there was a moment of akward silence, broken only by a shaky sigh from Jeremy.

Without another word, the blonde boy minimized the current window he was working with, and opened the command center. Jeremy typed the code into the text field, and pressed the 'Enter' button. Another window appeared, showing the image of a load bar, with the words 'Loading. Please wait...' underneath. Three pairs of eyes watched intently, as the bar raised.

"Ulrich, I didn't see you at lunch." Aelita whispered, concern in her voice. She didn't know why exactly she was whispering, but it felt the appropriate thing to do. "Weren't you hungry?"

"My dorm...um...nowhere. It doesn't matter." Ulrich began, looking a little frustrated at his stuttering.

"Are you sure you're okay? Please don't take it out on yourself about Yumi and--" it was too late when Aelita realized the mistake she had made. Ever since the dissapearance, Ulrich had always thrown a tantrum at anybody mentioning Yumi, or his emotions for her. Aelita knew it wasn't her fault Ulrich was so hard-headed, but she felt guilty anyway.

"I said it's nothing. Just...mind you're own buissness, will you? It's always 'Don't blame yourself' with you, or Jeremy, or the fucking guidance counselours. Well, maybe I do blame myself. So what? Why can't anybody just leave me alone, so I can get over this by myself?" Ulrich's voice started out steady and dark, but ended in an emotional shout.

"Hey, don't talk to Aelita like that! So sue her for caring about you!" Jeremy yelled back, turning to face the older boy. "Go ahead and be a jerk! Just leave the rest of us out of it!"

Ulrich shot a menacing glance at Jeremy, and for a moment, the two stood there, Ulirch towering over the smaller blonde, but Jeremy not appearing the slightest bit intimidated. Aelita stepped in between them, and scolded angrily. "Stop it! Stop it now! This is the time we're supposed to be working our best to hang together. This isn't solving anything! What if Yumi and Odd _are_ still alive in Lyoko? We're not doing anything for them by arguing."

Jeremy, always keeping his emotions under decent control, sat down huffily into his seat. He obviously didn't like it, but his obligations to his friends were much more important than arguing with Ulrich. Ulrich reatreated at the meantion of Yumi and Odd, and because there was, quite frankly, nothing left to say. Aelita resumed watching the computer screen, and didn't bother saying anything more.

But just because she wasn't saying anything, didn't mean she had nothing to say. Ulrich's words echoed in through her head, partially distracting her from the task at hand. _Maybe I do blame myself..._Aelita thought she was just randomly scolding him when she told him he shoudln't blame himself. What she didn't realize--until just now anyway--was that she had discovered the reason Ulrich never seemed to recover from losing Yumi and Odd. He had gone all these months thinking that all of it was somehow his doing!

"Ninety-nine percent. In just a while, we should have our answer." Jeremy informed unemotionally. He sounded more like he was about to give the stock reports for the month, rather than save two human beings. "Brace yourself for what's coming."

Aelita's body tensed, and she felt a shiver go down her spine. She glanced over at Ulrich, to see how he was handling it, and found he was hanging his head miserably, already assuming he knew that the results would be dismal. The boy lifted his hand for a moment to itch his shoulder. He lifted the sleeve of his green shirt, as Aelita tried to hold back a gasp of surprise building in her throat. There at the very top of Ulrich's right hand, was a monster-sized gash running across the width of his arm. The blood on the wound was dried, but it looked to fresh to have been made more than a few hours ago. When she looked at the rest of the skin, she found two more scratches (now scabs), not nearly as deep or long, but still noticable. She only had a momentary view of them before Ulrich's hand lowered again, his sleeve recovering the cuts.

"And the computer says...two non-virtual life forms on Lyoko!" Jeremy exclaimed. "It's them! It's them! They're not gone!"

He leapt off his chair in triumph, and unexpectedly planted a victorious kiss on Aelita's lips. He turned beet red afterward, but he didn't seem to regret the action. Aelita smiled, touching where he kissed her, as if to keep it there as long as she could. Even Ulrich seemed relieved, for he allowed himself one, slightly-crooked smile. The three paraded around the computer room, hooting with joy, and tripping over eachother in their clumsiness.

It didn't matter that they were just a few seconds ago, about to kill eachother in an argument. Neither did it matter about any doubts they've ever had before. Yumi and Odd were alive somewhere, and the three youths were filled with new hope.

* * *

_See? Emotional. Next chapter will get back to Glen, Fae, and Cody. As you can see, there's hinted self-harm in this chapter, which will become a bigger event as the story continues. Please R&R. Sorry it's so short._


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